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Serbia rejects UN plan for Kosovo

Serbian soldiers fire artillery in an honor salute on the eve of Serbian Statehood Day on Wednesday in Belgrade. PHOTO: AP

Serbia's new parliament has overwhelmingly rejected a UN plan that would give virtual independence to the breakaway province of Kosovo.

Wednesday's result dooms hopes of a compromise between Serbian and ethnic Albanian officials at a final round of negotiations on the plan scheduled to start next week in Vienna, Austria. It is also means that a resolution to the dispute over Kosovo's final status will probably have to be imposed by the UN Security Council.

The 250-member parliament voted 225-15 to reject the plan, which was drafted by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari. Four lawmakers abstained and another six were absent from the vote in the inaugural parliamentary session after last month's elections.

Resolution

The parliament adopted a resolution saying Ahtisaari's draft "breaches fundamental principles of international law" and "illegally lays the foundation for the creation of a new independent state on the territory of Serbia."

The plan was welcomed by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership. Although it does not specify that Kosovo will be independent, the UN draft sees internationally supervised self-rule for the southern province, including a flag, anthem, army, constitution and the right to join international organizations.

Serbian pro-Western President Boris Tadic told parliament that Ahtisaari's plan "essentially opens the way for an independent Kosovo, which is a violation of the essential principles of the U.N. charter, which guarantees inviolability of internationally recognized states."

Tomislav Nikolic, a leader of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party -- the biggest group in Serbia's new parliament -- hailed the parliament resolution, saying ``no one can create a new country on Serbia's territory without Serbia's consent.''

Future

But Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku said Serbia's views would have no impact on the future status of the province.

``What matters is what the European Union and the international community are saying, and not what Belgrade is saying. That's their problem,'' Ceku said.

A few Serb politicians are not opposed to Ahtisaari's plan. Cedomir Jovanovic, of the Liberal Democrats, urged the parliament to ``accept the reality that Kosovo has not been under our control since 1999.''

Serbia lost control over the province in 1999 when NATO bombing halted former President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists and turned Kosovo into a UN protectorate.

Belgrade has offered broad autonomy for Kosovo, which it considers the medieval cradle of its statehood. But Kosovo Albanians demand complete secession.

After the final round of negotiations in Vienna, Ahtisaari plans to put his proposal before the UN Security Council by the end of next month.

Resigned

The commander of the UN police in Kosovo resigned on Wednesday, days after violent clashes between the police and demonstrators left two protesters dead and another critically injured. The commander, Stephen Curtis, a former British police officer, resigned under pressure from the mission's most senior official, Joachim Ruecker.

On Tuesday, autopsy reports showed the two had been killed by rubber-coated bullets.

Television pictures of the demonstration in the center of Pristina, the regional capital, showed members of a Romanian riot squad attached to the UN firing rubber bullets into the crowd.

A third man is being treated in a military hospital and remains in critical condition, UN officials said.

Ruecker said the commissioner's resignation "would follow the principle of political accountability."

He also appointed an international prosecutor to head the investigation into the men's deaths.

The UN is planning to withdraw from the region by the end of summer and grant the province substantial self-rule.
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